Buon Anno Nuovo! - 12/31/14

Happy New Year!!!

I am almost in shock that it is about to be 2015. I never thought it would come. I imagined that I would just live in Italy forever and that it would always be 2014. My life is moving so fast. Just three short weeks and I will be back on American soil. I don't plan on leaving it anytime soon, for anyone who may be concerned.

Christmas was wonderful. Christmas, in many ways, is quite different here than in the States. There is way less commercialism. In fact, on Christmas Eve, all the stores were closed by 7pm. It's definitely a family event. And the majority of Italians celebrate Christmas Eve more than the actual day. Christmas Eve is when the whole family gets together, no matter how far away they live, and they eat a big dinner together, they light up their Presepe (Nativity) and their Christmas tree, and they spend time together. Christmas Eve is definitely a holy night. Christmas Day instead is a day of rest. The city becomes a ghost town and you can hear a pin drop from several kilometers away.

We spent our Christmas day in the church. It was a lot of fun. One of the largest families (that makes up almost half of our ward) set up a "festa" in the chapel. We ate a bunch of food, played some games, and hung out together. One family brought a computer to Skype their sons who are on missions in Colorado and South Africa. They let us use it to Skype our families as well, for which we were very grateful. It was great to see my family, and especially to see how much my brothers have grown! I almost didn't recognize Owen's voice!

Tonight instead we need to be in early. New Year's Eve gets very dangerous after dark. An Italian tradition is to throw things off of balconies (everyone lives in an apartment, so it's pretty universal). The idea is "in with the new, out with the old." Some go so far as to throw microwaves and refrigerators off balconies, although I suspect alcohol may have some involvement in that stupid idea. To avoid any dangers, we are ordered to be in the house well before dark. Another Italian tradition for New Years is to make as much noise as humanly possible. Last year in downtown Milano I could hardly my own thoughts at midnight. I thought a war might've erupted with all the loud blasts and flashes of light! Here in Merate I imagine that it will be a little more tranquillo.

Here's an interesting story. It made flashback to a similar experience in Pesaro, my first city. We returned home one afternoon to several wailing alarms from inside our apartment building. As we approached our front door we realized they were coming from our house! Our carbon monoxide detectors were blaring. After consultation with the office, we called the Fire Department. The operator was slightly antagonistic and did not really make me feel very safe. He seems to doubt that there was anything in our apartment, but begrudgingly sent us a few men to check it out. After a sweep of the apartment they found that our hot water heater was indeed leaking some fumes. Nothing at all serious, but something to fix nonetheless. As we sat in the living room filling out some paperwork, one of them started asking about what we were doing in Italy. Two Americans in a decently plain apartment with pictures of Jesus and a few old men in ties, and a bunch of blue books in different languages... That would probably invite some questions! We talked for a while. The older man asking the questions wasn't too open, but he listened just the same. The younger man that was with him seemed genuinely interested and listened intently. We were able to teach about the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon. At the end, we gave each of them a copy of the Book of Mormon with the invitation to read it and pray about it. "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you," right? Of course right. It was a wonderful, yet unexpected finding opportunity. We never know when prepared people will be put into our path.

There's my spiel for this week. Hopefully you enjoyed it. We didn't watch our allotted Disney movie on Christmas, so we're off to our apartment (so that no refrigerator crosses our path) to watch the Incredibles! I already quote the movie all the time, so it should be a blast.

Talk to you next year! Love, Anziano Simcox.

Natale è vicino! - 12/17/14

Hello everyone! Christmas is right around the corner! I'm excited! We found a Christmas tree and some decorations tucked away in a little box in a pile of missionary "leftovers." We dug them out and made ourselves a nice little set-up. It makes me happy. 

Life in Merate is going great. We've kept ourselves pretty busy, so I'm grateful for that. There are some great people here. Our bishop is very involved in the ward and is also eager to improve missionary work in his ward, so we couldn't be any happier! The ward is also excited that the missionaries have a car now. "I missionari sono mobili! The missionaries are mobile!" They even announced in sacrament meeting that we have a car and that missionary work in the ward is now on an unprecented climb. The bishop invited us to come early on Sunday to a meeting with the bishopric. They printed of a list of all the members and then went down the list and selected about fifteen families in the ward that they wanted us to visit. Some are less-active, some are part-member families, and some just need some extra love. That list is our number one priority this week and we've made some good plans to see as many on that list as we can this week. It's going well so far and we look forward to seeing some great fruits as well as sharing as much Christmas cheer as possible. We're grateful to have so much support from the ward.

My new companion is named Anz. Keller. He's a good guy. He's only been in the mission for five months, so he's still on the younger side. Sometimes I forget how young he is, both in the mission and age wise. He's still 18! He's a bravo kid though. He has a good heart, a good work ethic, and a good testimony. That's all you need!

In personal study the other day I came across this scripture. "But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish." 2 Nephi 26:31. It's simple enough, but it made me ponder about real intent in work we do, whether it be missionary work, or life, or being a Christian in general. Even if we do all the actions, they mean nothing without real intent! The scriptures are full of testimonies of that principle. If you are a laborer in Zion, work for Zion, not yourself! Otherwise, what point is there?

Have yourselves a very merry Christmas! Remember the reason we celebrate. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life."

Sending you my love this Christmas season, Anziano Simcox.

L'ultimo trasferimento - 12/6/14

I thought I was safe for my last transfer. It turns out that there's no such thing as "safe!" For my last transfer, I'll be leaving Lodi and the office and going off to a city named Merate. It's really close to Milano, like most of my cities! I'd say I know the Milano area better than anyone else by now. Merate is about 30km northeast, so I'm just taking a couple skips down the road. Also, we get a car! Woooo! In my mission, only a few zone leaders + the APs + the Office Elders have cars, so I get to break the tradition. I'm pretty excited. The Merate ward has been asking for a while for some missionaries with a car. Most of their members don't live in or near Merate, which makes it hard for the missionaries to get a lot of work done because it's hard to get around on bus/train around Merate. I'm looking forward to introducing this new element into the work at Merate. My new companion's name is Anz. Keller. I don't know him much. He got to the mission in September, so he's decently new still. I haven't been with a younger missionary in quite a while, so that will be fun too. Overall, my last transfer will be quite an adventure. I'm looking forward to it.

My only concern is training my replacement. When I first got here, I had a week and a half of training. With my replacement he'll have barely three day's worth; even less because we have a conference and then transfers. It'll be quite an adventure! I feel like I've been using this word a lot "adventure." I feel like a while ago all this would've really stressed me out, but working in the office has really taught me how to welcome change. Now I just think it's all a barrel of fun. The office was such a dynamic job and I never really knew what I could expect for that day. Of course, my whole mission is that way, so this is just another chapter to add to the novel that is my mission.

This week was a great week in Lodi. Last week, our Bishop asked us if we would organize a family home evening for the ward. We were excited to have an assignment from Bishop so we jumped on it immediately. We talked with the Sisters and we decided we would use it as an oppurtunity to put into practice some of the things that Elder Fingerle taught us in our conferences a few weeks ago about social media. We decided to watch the Church's Christmas video (christmas.mormon.org) and discuss the meaning. The title of the video is "He is the Gift." The video talks about how the first gift wasn't wrapped or bought in a store, but given by a Father to His children. We talked about different ways that we can share the gift through social media and through other means. The activity went really well and we had about twenty people there, way more than we expected! The Bishop was excited to have the activity too and would like to start making it a monthly thing. Our Bishop in Lodi is great. He's really involved in all the different parts of the ward. It's got to be pretty hard to be a bishop.

We don't really get a P-Day because there's so much work to be done for the transfers. I'll end this email here.

I love you all so very much and I'm grateful for the love and support that you all have given me over the past almost two years. Even as I go into my last month as a missionary, you've all stuck with me and this would be a whole lot harder without you.

All the love, Anziano Simcox

Giorno di ringraziamento! - 11/29/14

THANKSGIVING! Even though we're in Italy, we managed to have ourselves a merry little Thanksgiving. The Harmers, the Dibbs, the Assistants, and us had a wonderful dinner at the mission home. Sister Harmer was cooking for two days straight. Bless her heart. They went to an American military base and got a bunch of American food, including a Butterball turkey, so we had a decently American Thanksgiving. It really hit the spot.

Don't worry, we eat Italian food too. Wednesday night we had an activity for just the men in church. Our investigator (really he's the ward's investigator, we just handle the paperwork) hosted it. He's a professional chef, so he knows his stuff. He taught us all how to make Parmigiana di Melanzane (Eggplant parmesan). Che buona! Anz. Strang and I came ready with spatulas and mission aprons (see picture). It was a good bonding moment with members of the ward.

We've been working with a less-active/part-member family. Roy and his sister Lalita are from the Philippines and joined the Church many years ago. Lalita's husband Joephil, who is not a member, just recently moved here. Because they live so far away from the chapel and there are no busses/trains on Sunday, they have not been able to come to church. We asked around, but no one was able to give them a ride. This past Sunday in church, we noticed an Italian woman in church whom we'd never seen before, so we introduced ourselves. She was a member who had moved to Rome, but had just recently moved back to the same city where Roy and his family live. As we were talking she asked if we ever visited people in Crema. We mentioned Roy and Lalita. She wondered why she had never seen them in church and we said it's because the mezzi don't run on Sunday. She volunteered her car on Sunday and also time in the evening to accompany us to lessons with them! We took her to a lesson a few nights ago and she fell in love with them immediately and organized a ride for them tomorrow. Sweet!

Last Sunday we had a funny experience with that family. They had invited us over one afternoon because they said they would have a couple people over to lunch. We thought oh cool! We'll come, eat, and then have a lesson with them. Well, "a couple people" turned out to be a bunch of filippine and their Italian husbands. We rang the doorbell and Lalita's sister opened the door. She was really confused why we were there, but we thought she was Lalita because they look alike and so we were double confused. But she let us in anyway and everybody just got quiet and stared at us. Honestly, it looked we had just been out ringing doorbells and we just walked into a party. We looked around for Roy or Lalita or Joephil, but none of them were there! So it was super awkward for a little bit. Then we ate some food and started talking to people and it got less awkward. We actually had some good conversations and met some nice people and dispelled a couple rumors. There was this group of Italian men and they were kind of mumbling amongst themselves and saying some not too nice things. Then one of them came over to where I was sitting and said "so, tell me about this whole Mormon thing. I've never had a chance to talk to a Mormon." We had a really nice conversation about Christ and prophets and a bunch of other good things. We exchanged numbers and hope to see him and his wife again sometime!

Moral of the story: Missionaries should crash more parties. :P For the record, Roy and co. did show up eventually and confirmed that we were indeed invited.

I'm loving Lodi. Between what little time in the evening we have to do proselyting work and the time we spend in the office, life is so spontaneous and unpredictable (see Exhibit A above). I'm loving it. I'll find out pretty soon if I'll be finishing my mission here or going off somewhere else for my last six weeks. I'm hoping to stay. I love Lodi so much.

TTFN. Have a great week! Love, Anziano Simcox.

Social Networking (that's Italian for social networking) - 11/22/14

This week has been a decently busy one. At least, we've had a full schedule every day. That doesn't always happen, but it's nice (and tiring) when it does!

We went to Firenze this week, A.K.A. Florence. Cool huh? See attached pictures. I've always wanted to hang around Florence for a day. We didn't really have a day, more like a few hours of "free time." So we stopped by the Duomo (see picture). It was pretty neat. It has a very different architectural style than most things I've seen in Italy, at least on the outside. On the inside of the huge dome, there's a big fresco of Dante's Inferno, at least that's what they told me (see other picture). One of my goals is to read that book in Italian when I get back. Things are always better in their original language! I would've have really like to see the David statue as well, but Italy has this weird custom that says that all museums are closed on Monday... Excuse me?

Anyway, the real reason we went to Firenze was not to hang out, even though that was cool too. We had a conference down there. Elder Fingerle did a mission tour. He's an Area Seventy from Germany. He's also the Director of Religious Education for the Europe Area if I remember right. He did several conferences in which he talked about using social media in our proselyting efforts. Before starting, he pointed out the elephant in the room: We're not allowed to use social media! We don't have iPads yet like some missionaries. That'll be the day, but until then, we are without. He still said that we can further our proselyting efforts with social media without even touching an iPad/computer. He talked about ways to invite members to use social media to reach out to not just some people, but ALL people. He brought up examples such as mormon.org, Mormon messages, FamilySearch (Facebook for the dead as he called it), sharing uplifting messages on social media sites, and so forth. It really opened my mind to the potentials that these sorts of tools can have. These instruments we have in our lives can be powerful tools for good if used correctly. That's the way God would like us to use them for sure. With social media, we can now reach out to many more people who before were beyond our sphere of influence. Now, our sphere of influence is the whole world!

We decided to try out this social media initiative. This week we visited several families in the ward. We talked about the practical applications we can make of the Gospel in our lives. Then we watched this video that the Church released on Easter: https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng. Take 2:45 to watch it. It's great. Then our invite to them was to share this video on Facebook with someone they thought might need it. One mother said "I'll also make an event page inviting OTHER people to share it too." Nice work. My invite to them is the same to you. Watch the video and think of someone that YOU know that could benefit from a greater faith in Jesus Christ. Obviously, the ultimate goal is not the video, but the opening of hearts and doors to the light of the Gospel. We try to open hearts and doors using all honorable means available to us. Today, these honorable means include social media.

I look forward to implementing this approach more in our proselyting efforts!

The mission's great. I love you all! Happy week. Love, Anziano Simcox

11/15/14

Hello.

This week we were able to get some good work done in Lodi. I'm getting to know the area a little better. I can drive to the church without a GPS now, and we even found a shortcut! The Autostrada here is a toll road, so we have one of those Telepass things where you just stick it in your window and you can pass through without paying cash. Although lately ours has been a little fritzy. I think we might've gotten a ticket once. Usually when we drive through, the Telepass beeps and the light turns green. This one time though we drove through and the Telepass made a different sound. Then all of a sudden the light turned red and there was a big flash of light! So we'll have to keep an eye on the mail for the next few weeks... and get a new Telepass.

Our goal has been to get to know the members as much as possible and grow a good relationship with them. It's hard to do missionary work if you don't have a good relationship with the members in your ward. If you don't have a good relationship with the members, there's not much you can do as a missionary in my opinion. We are the only Elders in the ward, and there is also a pair of Sisters. It's a lot nicer to only have to divide things between the Sisters. In Navigli we had three companionships of Elders plus another pair of Sisters. That was a little ridiciulous! It's much easiser to split between only two companionships. Anyway, since we're the only companionship of Elders we don't have to worry about who are the favorites. :P These members are great. I've fallen in love already with the ones we've gotten to know. We want to stop by everyone's house and get to know them. We've visited four families so far, so we're only at about ten percent. Our ward is decent-sized. I'd say there are probably 50-60 that come every Sunday. I'll probably be blown away by the size of my home ward when I get home.

One issue we've run into is that most people in this ward don't actually live in Lodi. Ward boundaries are much more spread out here than they are in the States. The distance from one ward to another could be as much as an hour drive. For that reason, maintaining church attendance is much harder here. Public transportation is very helpful and convenient, but on Sundays it runs very little. It's easy to get from big city to big city, but to get from a suburb to a big city is difficult without a car. There are many members for whom it is very difficult to get to church. We were visiting one such member a few nights ago. We went to the house of his sister, who is also a member with the same problem. We had a really nice lesson. We actually set a return appointment for tomorrow to see her husband who is not a member. He would really like to learn about the Church, she says. Our issue now is getting them to church.

That lesson inspired us to come up with what seems to be our "theme." In the past couple visits with members we've been doing this. First we start off by asking what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We then read D&C 4:6, which lists some Christlike attributes. Missionaries recite this verse all the time. "Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence." We then go in a circle talking about which attribute we need to develop. The conclusion ends up being, "ALL OF THEM!" because none of us is perfect. Then we read 2 Nephi 32:3, "Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." In the words of Christ, we find the answer to ALL problems and the solution to ALL difficulties. That's quite an amazing promise. Too many people, including myself, look at the scriptures as containing only answers to spiritual dilemmas. They also contain real life solutions to real life problems. No matter what problem we're struggling with, we have the promise that we can open the scriptures and find an answer if we have an open mind and heart. Cool!

All my love as always! Love, Anziano Simcox

La Mia Epistola Settimanale - 11/8/14

I'm a little later than usual. It's been a hectic day. Actually it's been a hectic week. I was expecting this week to be pretty tranquilla, but it turned out to be the opposite. That's OK. I kind of prefer it this way. I'd much rather have a lot to do than nothing to do. The best men and women in the world can become the worst when they have nothing to do. There truly is wisdom in the Lord's counsel: "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."

We saw Ronaldo today for the first time since Dolores passed away. He's in good enough spirits given the circumstances. It was strange to be at their house without her. Her mancanza, her absence, was definitely felt. I know she's in a good place though and that she's hard at work in the Lord's service. I attached a picture of Anziano Strang, Ronaldo, and I. I really love that guy, even though communication isn't the best. He doesn't speak much Italian, and his English is pretty broken, but only 10% of communication is verbal right? He's leaving tonight for a month in the Philippines. He's bringing Dolores back there, staying for a month, and then coming back. We look forward to seeing him when we get back.

Lodi is so wonderful. I've actually still only seen it in the dark, but what I've seen has been beautiful. We were out walking a night or two ago talking to people. We came into a big piazza with a decent sized church. We thought that was the Duomo, the cathedral of the city. Each big city has it's own Duomo. We continued walking down the streets and we soon popped out into an even bigger piazza with an even bigger church that turned out to be the Duomo. It was beautiful and the piazza was amazing. I'll have to get some pictures if we ever see it in daylight. The streets are very old, but very well maintained. It's the most beautiful "centro" I've ever seen. I did not want to go in for the night when the time came. The members are wonderful too from what I've seen. Our Bishop is very supportive, which is always a HUGE positive. He pulled us into his office at the end of church last Sunday and talked about how anxious he was to get the missionary work moving in Lodi and he told us that we could count on him for anything. "Potete contare su di me!" Those are beautiful words coming from a Bishop's mouth. To boot, our chapel is outstanding too. I honestly was not expecting much. It's not too noticeable and it's kind of just stuck in between some plain-looking shops in an industrial-like area, but inside it's gorgeous. The thing is it's really plain inside too, but I just really love it. Maybe because it's kind of hidden that it feels even more beautiful on the inside.

So yah, I love Lodi and I hope to never leave. Although I keep having reminders of how soon I actually will leave Italy and that's scary. Still not sure how I feel about that. I try not to think about it too much.

We had a lesson just this evening with a new member of less than a year. He really understands the Plan of Salvation and the concept of free agency. He brought up a good point. He said to think of animals. In a way they're perfect. They can't sin, and they certainly won't be punished for any wrongdoing. We are much less perfect than animals because we can sin and we can cause bad things to happen. Humans can be pretty destructive. Then he posed the question, to which he already knew the answer, "Why then did God not make us perfect like the animals? The world never had to know imperfection." Then he gave the answer. "God loves us. He made us imperfect so that we could become perfect. He made us imperfect so that we could progress." There is no joy in stagnance. There is just being. True joy comes from progression. God could've loved us enough to create us as perfect beings, but instead He loved us more. He loved us so much that He created us as imperfect beings with the possibility of progression. True joy comes from progression.

Vi voglio tantissimo bene. Ormai l'italiano è più facile da scrivere e da parlare, quindi chiudo questa epistola in italiano. Meno male c'è Google Translate, no? Spero di poter parlare inglese quando torno. :P

Transfer #15 - 11/1/14

And thus begins my 15th transfer. Wow I'm old.

Transfers went really smoothly. I am still amazed at how non-problematic the whole week was. On Wednesday the new missionaries arrived on time, got out of customs even earlier than usual, and didn't lose a single piece of luggage! The bus to pick them up from the airport was even early, so we didn't have to wait at all. Traffic wasn't a problem. There was no construction to block us on the roads. The reservations at the hotel and the restaurant were good. Insomma, everything worked like it was supposed to! Thursday, we got all of the departing missionaries to the right places. We got to wake up super early Friday morning to take them to the airport and help them find their way around. That was actually pretty enjoyable. Compared to my first transfer here when lots of things went wrong, this was smooth sailing!

These next six weeks will be decently busy. We have a zone conference in a few weeks. An area seventy will be coming to tour the mission with President and Sister Dibb. We get to pick him up at the airport in Florence and go to the conference there. I'm excited. Then before the next transfer we'll also have Christmas zone training meetings. We can't call them conferences because we have this whole mission tour thing, but it's basically a conference. Those will be fun too. I always enjoy missionary meetings. I love seeing old friends and sharing good experiences. Most of all, I just like knowing that there are other people doing the same thing that I'm doing. Especially in Pesaro, where the next closest set of missionaries were about an hour away, it was encouraging to see other missionaries and share experiences. In every other city I've served in, there has always been at least one other companionship. In Navigli this last transfer there were nine missionaries! That was a little too crowded in my opinion, but hey! It was fun.

This week, because of all the transfer logistics, we haven't been able to do a whole lot of "missionary work." I gave a pass-along card to the guy working in the post office though, so there's something. Being in the office has taught how to look for unplanned opportunities to teach and/or serve others. With limited time to do all that we need to do, setting priorities takes on a much greater emphasis. I've learned a lot about service and how important it is. When Christ was on the earth, he did a lot of teaching, but the most effective way he taught was by serving. In the Bible we have record of a few sermons he told, but for the most part, he was out serving others. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17). I've learned that there are many ways to serve others and one of those ways is to simply be a friend.

Two people that we've really been able to serve in this way are Ronaldo and Dolores. Dolores was diagnosed a while ago with liver cancer. We've been visiting the two of them to give them company, teach them about the Gospel, and be their friends. In the last few weeks as Dolores stayed in the hospice center, we did our best to visit and to just help her feel less lonely. On Tuesday of this week, Dolores passed away. Although we've only known them for a few months, I feel like I've known her for much longer. It's hard to see her go, and it's even harder to see the toll that it's taking on Ronaldo. This experience though has taught me a lot about the Plan of Salvation that God has made for us. This life would have little sense or purpose if it only consisted of birth, death, and experiences in between. Life is something that is meant to be eternal. We existed before birth and we continue to exist after death. Ronaldo has really been able to find a lot of comfort in knowing the Plan of Salvation. We gave them a little pamphlet of the Plan of Salvation. Dolores liked to keep it under her pillow and Ronaldo said that he wanted to memorize it because he liked it so much. They asked for more pamphlets so they could give them to their friends. Dolores talked about the Gospel with everyone. She prayed sincerely and loved God. She had a very good heart and a good sense of humor. I'll miss her very much. I will always carry a little piece of her and Ronaldo with me.

That's my testimony. God loves YOU! Don't forget it. Love, Anziano Simcox

Lodi - 10/25/14

What to say what to say... It's time for transfers, so things have been getting busy in the office. Transfer week is my favorite part of being in the office. New missionaries, departing missionaries, lost luggage... I live for that thrill! Haha. Anz. Stewart found out today that he's going to Imperia. Lucky duck. It's a beautiful city on the western shore near France. He's definitely not upset. We've been in three for the past two weeks. It'll be weird to be in two again! This has been a fun trio though. Sometimes they're really stressful, but we've had a lot of fun together.

President told us that our proselyting area will be changing with the transfer. We won't be working in Milano anymore. Instead we'll be working in a city called Lodi, which is about 30 miles southeast of Milano. We're still in the office like normal and we stay in the same apartment, we'll just be working in a different city. I'm excited for the change, but I'm sad to leave the Milano Navigli ward. Every ward/branch I've served in has had something different that made it special for me. My favorite part about this ward has been the youth. It's hard to be a Mormon youth in general, but in Italy it's especially difficult because the Church is not nearly as recognized as it is in other places. It was only granted full legal recognition a few years ago. Here the expectation is that if you're Italian, you're Catholic, and if you're not, it's very strange for people. So I have a lot of respect for these youth who live their faith even though it may even have a big effect on their social life. They're not afraid to share the Gospel. They will be very blessed by this new Single's Ward that will be formed soon. So anyway, Lodi will be my sixth (and most likely final) city.

Dolores's situation doesn't seem to be getting much better. We've been visiting her as often as possible and trying to bring some cheer and some Spirit. I wish there was more that we could do. It's hard on her family because most of her children are still in the Philippines. They've been trying to come over here, but because of document issues, they haven't been able to get visas. It's really frustrating that stupid bureaucracy is stopping this family from being together. I hope that some solution is found soon. It's really hard on Ronaldo too. He's been putting in countless hours staying with her and taking care of her in the hospice center. But, if he doesn't work, he doesn't get paid and neither do the bills. So he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. I love this family so much and it's hard for me to watch them struggle like this.

Last night in our chapel there was a baptism. He actually belongs to the Cimiano ward, but he wanted to be baptized in our chapel. He went through the hands of many people before ending up at Cimiano. First he met some missionaries on the subway. Then, while he was in the States, he toured temple square and talked with some missionaries there. Then he came back and found the chapel in Navigli. He came once or twice, and we talked to him for a little bit. It turned out he lived in Cimiano's area, so he started going over there and the missionaries there taught him. This man's life story is crazy. Started at age 13, he lived in a monastery, studying to be a priest. In the monastery, he did two years of silence, in which he didn't speak for two years. He's originally from Croatia. He was transferred to Rome and lived in the Vatican for a while. A few years ago, he left the Church and started searching other religions. Last night after his baptism, he gave a testimony at the pulpit. He said "I sat down with the Elders and had a discussion with them. In my life, I've had many similar discussions with many different types of people. I was skeptical that this was going to be any different. As a former priest, I was looking to prove things theologically. As I listened and learned, I discovered that the theology of it all had no significance because I felt the Holy Ghost tell me in my heart that the things I was learning were true." This man was prepared to receive the Gospel and he will be a strong member of the Church.

This reminded me of something Brigham Young once said. "If all the talent, tact, wisdom, and refinement of the world had been sent to me with the Book of Mormon, and had declared, in the most exalted of earthly eloquence, the truth of it, undertaking to prove it by learning and worldly wisdom, they would have been to me like smoke which arises only to vanish away. But when I saw a man without eloquence or talents for public speaking, who could only say, ‘I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of the Lord,’ the Holy Ghost proceeding from that individual illuminated my understanding, and a light, glory, and immortality were before me. I was encircled by them, filled with them, and I knew for myself that the testimony of the man was true."

I'm grateful to be a missionary and see this conversion happen in peoples' lives. For everyone it's different, but the principles are always the same: "Ask and ye shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened unto you."

Vi voglio bene, come sempre. Buona settimana! --Anziano Simcox

LA PATENTE DI GUIDA - 10/18/14

Yes. The rumors are true. Elder Simcox is now street-legal. Cool huh? Best part? They used the same picture on my new license as they did on the old. If you've ever seen the old license, you'll know why that's funny. I had my first experience of driving in Italy this week. It was pretty nerve-wracking, especially after having not driven for over a year and a half. I got used to it though. It's like riding a bike! Kind of...

My new companion, Elder Strang, is Canadian. That provides some good subject material. Canadians fascinate me because they're almost exactly like Americans, but they're not. He speaks the same as I do, except every now and then he'll use a funny word or say something differently and everybody just stops and looks at each other, wondering if we all heard the same thing. He's had all American companions though, so he's used to it now. He also brought some Canadian maple syrup, although he says that Canadians don't use maple syrup nearly as much as people think they do.

President will be going to Portugal next week for a seminar, so he's deciding transfers this week that way he doesn't have to worry about making a bunch of decisions when he gets back. That means the transfer fever is a little longer this time around. Anz. Stewart is especially interested this time because he's getting transferred to another city. It must be hard to know for sure that you're getting transferred, but not know where you're going. We know though that President is going to try as hard as he can to keep it a secret as long as possible. He enjoys watching Anz. Stewart struggle a little bit. :P

Yesterday morning we got a delivery of some supplies to the office. Anz. Strang, Sister Harmer, and I went out to help him unload. As we unloaded, he began asking questions about who we are and what we do. That lead into a nice conversation about the church and about the Restoration of the Gospel. Anz. Strang ran inside and got him a copy of the Book of Mormon. He was touched by the gesture and he said he'd read it "volontieri." He also wrote down his name and phone number for us and told us to give him a call! We passed his information over to the Elders who live in his area and they'll be contacting him soon. Even in the office, it's possible to do missionary work. I really enjoyed that experience and he was a great man.

My ward is really grateful that I play the piano. One member is really insistent that I teach her how to play. Last night I did a little bit. She didn't do too bad! I'm not sure how to teach piano though. I've never really thought about it. I'm not giving her actual lessons, just showing her a few things and giving her tips before or after church activities. Being able to play the piano has been an enormous help to me in my mission. People told me before my mission that it would be, but I never actually believed them. Playing in Church meetings has been a good way to gain peoples' trust and give them a service that they appreciate. It's also helpful to be able to play the mission hymn when occasion permits.

I'll leave it short for this week so I can give you that "break" I promised last week. :P

Vi voglio sempre bene! -Anziano Simcox

10/11/14

Hey everyone. Honestly, I don't have enough time to write a novel today, so I'll give your eyes a break. Just a few thoughts though.

General conference was fantastic. www.conference.lds.org. During this conference, my testimony was really strengthened about the fact that there is a living prophet on the earth today. As members of the Church, we definitely take that for granted. Take these words from Elder Ballard: "I was invited to participate in a popular radio talk show... After some initial discussion of the similarities between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Christian denominations, the host asked this significant question: 'What makes your church different from other churches?' 'Let me answer your question with another question,' I replied. 'If Moses were on the earth today, would you be interested in what he had to say?' 'Of course,' the talk show host responded. 'Everyone would be interested.' 'Well, that's our message to the world,' I said. 'There is a prophet of God on the earth today who has the same power and authority that Moses had. God directs His Church through His prophet today, just as He did in Moses' day.' My host was silent for a moment-which, as you know, can seem foever on the radio. 'You're right,' he said at last. 'That is different.'"

This story always comes to mind when I think about the fact that we have a living prophet on the earth. It's quite a miracle. Anyway, I enjoyed all of the talks that were given. I'm trying to study them every morning in my personal study. It's nice being in the office, because I've been able to talk the talks and put them on a flash drive. I hook that into our portable DVD player in our apartment so I can listen to them while I study or while I wash the dishes or whatever. Another talk I really enjoyed was by Pres. Uchtdorf during the Priesthood session. It was titled, "Lord, is it I?" He said that often we get so caught up in wondering how others are doing in their personal salvation that we forget about our own. He said instead of asking, "Lord, is it him?" We should be asking, "Lord, is it I?" This is the question that the disciples posed the Master when he said that one of them would have betrayed him. Each asked if it was himself that was to betray the Master. This world would be a better place if each evaluated himself before evaluating others.

Anyway, I loved conference. I'm always grateful for the spiritual boost. As far as my own personal life/work, it's going alright. We've had a good week both of office work and of missionary work, so I've been grateful. One challenge with working in the office is that we only have several hours each evening in which to do missionary work. It's sometimes hard to focus for those few hours, especially when we have nothing planned, or when appointments fall through. It's taught me the importance of planning. If we don't plan, our work suffers greatly. We got to about Tuesday this week and realized that we had nothing concrete planned for the week. We sat down and made a bunch of calls and were able to set up appointments for every day of the week, which is a missionary's dream! By the end of the week, our week will look almost like we did the work of normal missionaries, which is quite a blessing and we are very grateful for it.

Dolores is still in the hospital. She has been moved to a hospice center on the other side of Milano. Despite this she is still strong and she seems to be getting stronger every day. We try to visit her 2-3 times a week. She loves when we come and we've been able to give her support and just be there for her, if nothing else. Every time we go, we read a little bit with her from the Bible or from the Book of Mormon. Her husband or her nephew will usually read in their native language of Tagalog and we'll follow along in Italian or English. I've been able to learn a few words in Tagalog and I can pick them out when they read or pray.

Other than that, we have a few potential investigators that we are trying to set appointments with. It's frustrating when you know that you have something that would definitely help these people, but they don't accept. Especially when they tell you quite honestly that you have something they want, but then they don't take the steps necessary to have it. As a missionary, it saddens me because I genuinely love the people I meet. I think it's a sort of superpower given to missionaries. I love people I hardly know. It's a strange feeling. I might just barely have met someone, but care for them as if I had known them for thousands of years. That's how I feel about Dolores and Ronaldo. In all honesty, I hardly know them, but I care for them a lot. For the upteenth time, I'll share with you one of my favorite scriptures. "Perfect love casteth out all fear."

I said at the beginning I wouldn't write a novel. Sorry! I honestly don't know much of what I want to write before I start. I just let my fingers and my brain go. Hopefully I don't rant too much. Anyway, I love you all so very much and wish you the very best. Vi voglio un sacco di infinitissimo bene.

-Anziano Simcox.

Picture: I know I've sent pictures of this castle before, but I had never been inside of it until last P-Day. This is the view from one of the terraces looking into the courtyard. The castle is actually just long passageways forming a square with a big courtyard in the middle. That day there was some sort of old car show.

Weekly Update #86 - 10/4/14

I was interested to know what number weekly update this was, so I did the math and this is the 86th! I was close. I guessed 84. Maybe just because I like the number 84 though. It was probably just a lucky guess. What does one write after 85 other weekly updates?

LIFE'S LESSONS LEARNED:

-Don't ask the Evangelical Filippino to say the opening prayer. He may take way longer than you planned.

-If you're sick and a member offers you a get-better-quick remedy, be careful. His "magic pill" might actually just be extra-strength Alka Seltzer. You'll start out with a sore throat and you'll end up with a sore bottom. I should've realized that what the Alka Seltzer did to the water was what it was about to do to my stomach. I didn't put those dots together fast enough. On the other hand, my sore throat is not as sore, so you just have to decide what's more valuable to you.

-Italy has very big spiders. I had a very frightening experience where I was in the church and another missionary suddenly noticed a very large spider hanging from my sweater. He was very calm about it. My companion was not.

-Which brings me to my other lesson learned: Don't bring Anz. Stewart with you to Fear Factor.

Hopefully you too were able to learn some things from this segment of my weekly update. Maybe I'll have more for you next week. Who knows what life has in store?

For the past few weeks we've been teaching a wonderful family. She is a member for most of her life and he is not. She has been diagnosed with liver cancer and has been staying in the hospital for the past week and a half. We've gone a couple times to visit them and every time it's been a very spiritual experience. Their testimony of the plan of salvation has really grown. Before she went into the hospital, we left them with a plan of salvation pamphlet and told them to read it before our next visit. The first time we visited after she had been admitted to the hospital, we weren't even thinking about the pamphlet, but he brought it up and talked about how much he enjoyed reading about it and how much he had learned. She said that every day her and her husband read the scriptures together. She also told us that she keeps the pamphlet under her pillow as her "guardian." A few days ago the husband said that he knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Church is true. He's hoping that once his wife is out of the hospital they can start attending church together and he can be baptized. This family is really growing in the Gospel and they are grateful to have found renewed testimonies to help them through this difficult time.

They've grown my testimony even more that the Gospel is a real solution to real problems. It was not made simply to prepare us for a life to come, but to help us live in the wonderful life that we have. Today I studied a little about the purpose of life. It's a big question! As members of the Church many of us believe to have an easy answer to it. Ask any Mormon what the purpose of life is and 90% of them will say "TO HAVE JOY!" Some of them might even quote a scripture at you, "Adam fell that men might be, and men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). Once we've figured out the what, however, we need to figure out the how. I've been meditating on that for the past few days. Of course, we know that one way to find joy is to follow God's commandments. That's why he gives us commandments. "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God" (Mosiah 2:41). Is it enough to simply be obedient though. In the back of the Italian Book of Mormon, there exists a "Guide to the Scriptures" that doesn't exist in English, but that I'm really grateful for. It's basically the Bible Dictionary, but with Book of Mormon topics in it too. Anyway, one entry is entitled "Gioia" which means "Joy." (I really like that word in Italian by the way). It says that "joy is a condition of great happiness that results from righteous living. The purpose of life is that all people may know joy. Absolute joy is known only through Jesus Christ." So really, is purpose in life is to know Jesus Christ, because through Him, we can experience the ultimate amount of joy possible. If we do not know Jesus Christ, our joy is not full. If we do not know Jesus Christ we cannot fully follow His example and we cannot live righteously to earn that joy. Remember, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (St. John 17:3).

Buona settimana! Vi voglio sempre bene.

Picture: Us at Torre Pellice last week, holding up the mission plaque. (Behold, we are disciples of Jesus Christ. We have been called by him to proclaim his gospel among his people, that they might have everlasting life. 3 Nephi 5:13).

Torre Pellice - 9/27/14

Hi there!

Sadly I don't have much time today, but I wanted to at least write something. I've written every week of my mission, why stop now?!

Today we went with Pres. & Sister Dibb + the Assistants + the office couple (the Harmer's, who are super awesome people) to Torre Pellice, near the border of France. That's the place where the Church officially started in Italy. Lorenzo Snow dedicated the country there for the preaching of the Gospel in 1850 and then over 100 years later Ezra Taft Benson did the same thing. If you look at the picture, you'll see a mountain in the back and then a little to the left you'll see a rock jutting out a bit. On the rock is where they prayed that the hearts of the Italian people would be open to receiving the Gospel and that the missionaries would be led to those who were ready. We wanted to do the same thing. We drove as far as we could and then started hiking. We went through some trails, over a stream, down a pasture of sheep, and then we got to a much steeper trail cut up through the mountain. My knee couldn't make it any further, so I stayed down with a few others while three the Assistants and my companion forged their way up to the top. They couldn't quite make it up to the rock because of a wrong turn, but they got to a spot overlooking the valley. They called us (we were amazed that they still had reception up there) and we participated in the prayer down below. It was a very memorable experience.

Other than that, it was back to the old grind. Transfers are over, so things were much more "tranquile" this week.

OH! Cool announcement made in church last week. The Milan West stake will soon be organizing the first single's ward in Italy! So. Cool. Basically what a single's ward is is a congregation made up of entirely young single adults from 18-30 years old. This allows them to be in an environment of people their age and have leadership responsibilities and be around people their own age with their same standards. I'm so excited about it. they want to involve the other Milan stake too and they would form their own ward and meet every Sunday. Hopefully they'll even put a few missionaries there too. That would be an awesome assignment. It's a good opportunity for missionary work too because it's an environment in which the young people don't feel afraid to bring their friends. I'm excited to see the realization of this and I'm lucky to be serving in Milano and see it all happen firsthand!

Have a wonderful fantastic week everyone! Love, Anziano Simcox.

Battesimo! - 9/20/14

Buongiorno! Boy it's been a week. Transfers, baptisms, orange mold, luggage tetris, strange yellow goop of mysterious origin... It's been a week.

Let's start with baptism! Our investigator Giuseppe was baptized last Saturday. It was such a great ceremony. He didn't want to announce it beforehand in church because he said he gets flustered in front of a lot of people. People found out anyway and there was a good thirty people there. He was secretly happy though, even if he complained a little bit. That's just him. He loved the musical number that one of the Sisters prepared. He was grateful for the talks. He was kind of scared that Anz. Stewart wouldn't be able to pull him out of the water, but that turned out OK! Afterward was my favorite part. After the ceremony ended, everyone spontaneously lined up to congratulate him. He was overwhelmed by all the love that they gave him. Members and non-members alike sincerely congratulated him on his baptism. The young people have particularly taken to him. Even though he's 50+ years old, he's actually just a 12 year old in an old man's body. He gets along really well with the young people and they love having him around. That was mostly who was at his baptism! The week before, he spent a lot of time with them setting up that tree of life activity, mostly without us there! He hung out with the youth and helped them put it together and they loved having him there. He's one of them! He was beaming after his confirmation on Sunday and he received even more love from everyone. I was thrilled to see how much the ward has really welcomed him in, even though most of them don't really know him that well. I don't have any worries now about him assimilating himself into the ward.

Transfers! This time went a little smoother than the last one. The new missionaries' plane was on time and only two bags were delayed, but they showed up after about an hour. I feel like these new missionaries keep getting younger though. Maybe I'm just getting older. The first option is more logical I think. ;) That was Wednesday. Friday, we hired a bus to pick up the departing missionaries from the hotel at 5am. Our bus driver though called at 5am on Thursday morning wondering where we all were... I was not happy to be woken up! He figured it out though and all the departing missionaries made it home. I'm getting really good at luggage tetris, or in other words, "how many suitcases can you cram into the bishop's office. The answer is about 64, give or take a few. While we were stacking though, we noticed a strange yellow goop advancing down the floor. It was really scary. Some poor Elder hadn't put his shampoo in a bag and it leaked all over his suitcase. Luckily most of his stuff was unharmed.

As for the strange orange mold, I emptied the compost this morning and a mysterious gas flew out of the can... After letting the vapors clear, I noticed some very peculiar orange mold. I learned today that mold can be orange. I didn't know that. I kept my distance though and blasted it with the hose... Gross. Other than that, the house stayed mostly clean this week, mainly because we were hardly in it.

I love Saturdays. Sure it's P-day, but that's not why oddly enough. I love Saturdays because it's the one day a week when we can get a full two hours of study in. All the other days we have to be in the office by 9am. My testimony of scripture study has really increased in the office. I feel the difference it makes to not have a quality study each day. It feels like something is missing. I've adapted and started making time in the evenings for some study and I've seen the difference it makes, even if I just read a chapter before bedtime or write a few thoughts in my study journal. It's really therapeutic and also a nice time to unwind and open up for inspiration which sometimes I might be too busy to recognize. I'm working on that problem as well. In other words, it's just a good time to "let go and let God," as they say.

I had a great study this morning and I wouldn't be able to write all of the insights I received, but one I particularly liked. I was reading in 2 Nephi 10. Verse 19 says, "wherefore I will have all men that dwell [on the land] that they shall worship me, saith God." I think when a lot of people hear the word "worship" they think of a self-centered God who wants only praise to Himself and wants all to be subjected to him. They look at it as a one way deal in which we worship Him and He gets the glory. Fin. But what we need to realize is that God doesn't ask us to worship Him just so that He can receive some sort of satisfaction. He asks us to worship Him because He knows that if we do, we will be on the right path and we will be able to return to him. Some synonyms of "worship" are "honor, venerate, revere, adore, glorify, idolize, adulate." When we worship Him, we put ourselves in line with His will. After all, Jesus taught that the most important commandment is to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." If we love God, we will follow His commandments. If we follow His commandments, we are blessed and others are blessed as well by our obedience. If we follow His commandments, we will return to Him. In summary, God asks us to worship Him not so that He can be happy, but so that we can be happy.

Have a great week everybody. I love you all!

Picture: The day of Giuseppe's baptism. Left to right: President Dibb, Anz. Stewart, Giuseppe, and myself.

L'albero della vita - 9/13/14

Hola!

Last night we had a great ward activity. It was a recreation of Lehi's dream (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi ch. 8 & 11). The church has two entrances, the main one and a back staircase that leads out into the court below (the church is on the second floor of a building downtown, I'll have to get a picture one day). Instead of having everyone come in the main entrance, we divided them all into several groups of 8-10. My job was to lead the groups up the staircase, representing the pre-earth life and then into the hallway where life begins. We had an "iron rood" which was really a steel cord we found in the attic leading down the hallway. Each room represented a different temptation: fashion, food, gambling, sleeping, sports, dancing, etc. Most of these things aren't wrong in themselves, but the problem comes when we put these things ahead of reaching our goal. The objective was to "hold to the rod" and not be distracted from reaching the goal. At the end, we had several bowls of water where people washed their hands, representing repentance. They then had to pass through the "brume tenebrose" or the mist of darkness (cut up garbage bags taped to a tent frame) into the chapel, where the iron rod led to the tree of life (see picture). So many people spent FOREVER working on that tree. It was a bunch of copper pipes wrapped together, with smaller pipes as branches and stripped copper wires as twigs and tin foil leaves. Then it was painted brown and placed on a "rock" (wooden pedestal wrapped in tin foil). It was a beautiful tree and the light shone off of it just right to make it shine. Then we stuck apples rolled in sugar to represent the white fruit.

Quick background: In the Book of Mormon, there is a prophet named Lehi. He dreams that he is in a large field, representing the world. "And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen.And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy." The fruit of the tree represents "the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men;wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things... and the most joyous to the soul." After he partakes of the fruit, he sees "numberless concourses of people, many of whom were pressing forward, that they might obtain the path which led unto the tree by which [he] stood... and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree." This iron rod, which leads people to the tree, represents the word of God, which, if we "hold tight" to it, will lead us to the fruit of the tree, or eternal life.

It was a great activity. Many people came and several were able to know the Church for the first time and leave with a positive image.

On another note... It's transfer week again! Transfers are completely different as an office Elder. We already know several weeks beforehand if we'll be transferred because we have to train our replacements. So we've known what's happening to us for a while. That excitement's gone. Also, transfer week means lots and lots of back and forth driving with new missionaries, departing missionaries, lost luggage, and everything in between. I'm looking forward to it. One of my favorite parts is watching the new missionaries come out of the terminal. It reminds me of when I came in and how many wonderful experiences I've had since then!

Lots of crazy things happened with transfers. We've got a Zone Leader who's also a District Leader, some Sister Training Leaders who are also training new missionaries at the same time, and we'll have a third companionship of Elders in our ward! Usually max is two companionships of Elders and one of Sisters, but I guess we need lots of manpower in Navigli! Eight missionaries in one ward will be quite the experience.

Sorry this letter's not as long as usual. We've got a lot to do today, such as plan for a baptism tonight! It should be nice. He didn't want to announce it in church because he said he gets nervous in front of lots of people. Most people ended up finding out anyway and we'll still have a nice attendance.

Happy week! I'm sure I'll have lots of crazy transfer week stuff to talk about next time.

Statemi bene.

Supply Orders and Other Shenanigans - 9/6/14

Every Saturday when we clean our apartment I think to myself, "I will never get this place dirty again." Then, every Saturday without fail I have the same conversation with myself. I'd like to know where the line is between dirty and clean because I feel like I'm a decently clean guy, but the dustpan every Saturday begs to differ.

Well, I've already been here for six weeks. That's pretty weird. My whole mission, time has been really weird, but it's even weirder in the office. It goes by so incredibly fast that I have absolutely no time to realize what day it is. All of Tuesday I thought it was Wednesday and then I got to the end of the day and it was Tuesday. Then the next day I woke up and it was Thursday. Wednesday seems to have not existed. The logic makes no sense, but that's what happened. That's just an example. I stopped trying to measure time.

Even though Wednesday didn't exist, we had a neat experience Wednesday night. We got a text from someone saying, "Some lady is looking for Anziano Simcox. Here's the number." Obviously we were a little confused. I called though and found that it was a member I had known very well in Cimiano. She said that she had gotten a call from someone in Utah, who had gotten a call from a Bishop in the Philippines, who had gotten a call from his sister in Milano that she needed someone from the Church to come see her. That's a pretty big circle to reach the missionaries who live 15 kilometers away, but that's ok. We went to meet the member in Rozzano, where this woman lived. The member, bless her heart, got really lost, so we ended up going ourselves. We met this wonderful Filippina sister and her husband. She had just had chemotherapy treatment that day so she was very weak. We talked with them for a while and got to know them. Before we left, we gave her a blessing by placing our hands upon her head and blessing her that she would be strong and be able to withstand her trials. It was amazing to see the instant effect that that blessing had on her. There immediately came a new light into her eyes and she seemed to have new energy that she definitely didn't have before. By the time we left she was laughing and smiling and looking almost healthy, a big improvement from when we came in. We look forward to staying close to this family and helping them through this difficult time. They haven't been to church in many years, and the husband has never been baptized (but he made sure we knew that he is a firm believer!). Despite all that, their faith is strong and it was her faith in the blessing and in the power of the Priesthood that made the blessing so effective.

We have an investigator who is ready for baptism. He struggled for a while to quit smoking, but he's gone a week now without a single cigarette. That's hard for him because everyone in his house smokes and they've realized that he stopped. They also realized that he's been going to Church and meeting with us. They thought at first that it was just a joke, but once they realized it's serious they haven't been as accepting. He said the backlash from his family hasn't been the most pleasant, so that's a new trial in front of him. He still wants to carry through, but obviously he wishes that his mother and siblings could be on his side. The baptism is planned for next Saturday. He doesn't want a lot of people to come because he says he'll be embarrassed with lots of people, but the list of "invited" people is getting a little bigger so hopefully we'll have a decent attendance. Baptismal ceremonies are important for those who come as well as those who are actually being baptized because they allow people to feel the Spirit in a special way and to see exactly what we missionaries talk about when we say things like "faith," repentance," and "baptism." He's a good guy and he's changed his life for the better in order to follow God's will more closely. He doesn't have all the answers (who does really?) but he recognizes the Spirit well and he knows that It is leading him in the right direction so he trusts in that and that God will not lead him astray.

My big project this week and next week is getting the orders ready for zone conferences. In my mission we do five zone conferences on five different days, with two zones at each conference (except for one which has three). So each day before I have to prepare the supplies that the missionaries ordered. I have used so much packing tape and cardboard already. It's crazy. We've done three of five. The other two are Monday and Tuesday, so I've got my work cut out for me. After that though my life will be pretty tranquil until the transfer week chaos starts in ten days. Although it may not seem like a spiritual experience, I've been able to have a pretty faith-building time putting together the supplies. The youth in all of Italy got together and did a big EFY (summer camp for Mormons). They took 160 copies of the Book of Mormon and each youth wrote his/her testimony/experiences in the front cover. Then they gave the books back to us to distribute to all our missionaries and have them hand them out to investigators that would benefit from those testimonies. One of my assignments is to read these testimonies before I put them in the orders. It's been an awesome experience to read all of the wonderful testimonies that these youth have and see the difference the Gospel has made in their lives. I love it because a lot of them say things like "I don't know everything about the Gospel, but I love what I do know and I want you to have that too!" These youth are great.

Until next time, y'all keep being bravi. Love, Anziano Simcox.

Fort Knox... - 8/30/14

Hey! Sorry this weekly update is a bit later than usual. It's been a hectic day. Preparation day is supposed to be relaxing. Mica tanto! Ah well. Life goes on. My English is getting worse and worse. I might as well just starting writing these letters in Italian ormai. Have your pocket translators handy.

Life is great in the office. This week went by so fast I hardly had time to realize what day it was. I was constantly busy this week. While we were driving this evening I was making a couple phone calls and one person said, "I don't hear you very well! What's going on?" I said, "Oh, we're in the car right now. We had some downtime, so I figured we'd give you a call!" He goes, "Your definition of downtime is being in the car?!" And I said, "I know right?! Crazy."

On the utilities front, I've been working on shutting down the old apartment next to the mission office. I did some magic and closed the electric contract. It was great to walk in there, flip a switch, see nothing happen and go "Yah, I did that!" Unfortunately (and this has been the cause of most of my stress this week) for whatever reason our garage was attached to the same electric meter as the apartment. I'd like to know whose bright idea that was. That wouldn't be terrible, but the garage door and the gate to the driveway are both electric and can only be opened that way! The garage is basically impenetrable without electricity, believe me I tried. You should have seen me out there trying to get into that garage. A hammer, paperclips, clothes hangers, a flashlight, fold-able step stools, a letter opener... These were just some of my accomplices in this project. Nothing worked. That garage has now been named Fort Knox. Normally that wouldn't be a big problem, but unfortunately that's where our ENTIRE stock of copies of the Book of Mormon is... Yah. I made some phone calls and we have an electrician coming first thing Monday morning. No one could come any earlier because the holidays are still going on... So, there are a few zones that will just be a little short on copies of the Book of Mormon for a few weeks. I did all I could do.

We have a great investigator we've been teaching since before I got here. He's doing wonderful. Like any Italian, he loves to talk, so our lessons get a little off-track sometimes. He likes the church though. He's getting to know people too, which is great seeing as our ward is pretty big. It can be hard to get to know people if you're new. We had a lesson planned with him a few days ago. When we got there, he was already there playing with the kids who were running around. One of them asked if he could come to our lesson with us. He had the attention span you would expect out of any eleven year-old, but he was a great addition to the evening. He was just baptized earlier this year, so we asked him a few questions about how he felt at his baptism and the difference it made. It was nice for our investigator to hear a testimony like that coming from someone so young. At the end, we asked the kid to say the prayer. In effect, he said something like this: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us here today. This lesson was pretty boring for me, but I probably would've been more bored if I had gone to English class, so thank you. Anyway, the important thing is that this guy is getting baptized. I really have to go the bathroom. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." All of us were cracking up in the middle of the prayer. It was so much fun. It helped our investigator loosen up a bit. He feels a little nervous sometimes in church because he doesn't know a lot of people yet. Anyway, he's still preparing for baptism... not next weekend, but he's hoping for the next weekend. He's just trying to quit smoking. It's been a little hard for him, but he's honestly trying. We actually ran into him today at the market. He's finished his last packet of cigarettes today and he says he's completely done. I think he's really done. He has a good desire.

We've been able to have an office miracle this week. It was Tuesday afternoon and we were going about our office work. The intercom rang and we didn't think much of it because we get at least four different mail carriers coming each day. We opened the gate and were expecting a mailman, but up the path comes walking a younger girl in her twenties. We talked with her for a while and she talked about how she had been going through some difficult trials in her life and she saw the sign and thought maybe someone would be able to help her. We told her we didn't have many resources as far as employment goes, but that we do have the Gospel and that sure can help with a lot of problems in our life. She agreed, we talked to her a little more, and we set up an appointment for her to come the next evening. Sister Dibb was there too, and even though she didn't understand everything, she got the gist and was super excited. She declared that she and President would be there the next night for the appointment. So the next evening, this girl showed up and we had a beautiful lesson in the lobby of the mission office with her, Anz. Stewart, myself, and President and Sister Dibb. It was a really neat experience, and of course it was a neat experience to teach a lesson with President and Sister. They were really excited to have an investigator! It was a great lesson, she was grateful to receive a Book of Mormon, and we're hoping to see her again.

My thought string lately has led me to think about what happiness means, especially in the context of the Church. I read a great article in one of the Church's magazine a few weeks ago that I really enjoyed. It talked about one new convert's experience with obedience. We know from the scriptures that true happiness comes from being obedient to God's commandments. This woman talked about how she assumed that when she joined the Church all her problems would disappear, or at least that she would be able to happily deal with them, as long as she was obedient to the principles she had learned. Instead, it seemed as if she was less happy and her trials were increasing. Looking back, she said she cam to call this mentality the "bubble gum machine mentality." At the beginning of her conversion, she thought that the Gospel was like a bubble gum machine: You obey and you get a blessing, just like you put a quarter in and out pops a gumball. Instead, it's not always like that. Obedience will of course ultimately bring blessings, but that doesn't mean that we're going to automatically receive a blessing each time we're obedient! Even if one is living a righteous life, that doesn't entitle that person to constant happiness. Difficult moments come in life. Trials happen. We are subject to mortal frailties. However, that doesn't mean that God doesn't love us or that we are doing anything wrong. I've been guilty myself of this mentality, especially in my mission. It's easy to think, "I'm not 100% happy right now... There must be something I'm doing wrong." It's important to realize the broader scope of things. Sometimes, things just happen. Our job in mortality is to take it, roll with it, get as much good as we can out of it, better ourselves because of it, and then keep going. A lot of people miss the whole "endure to the end" aspect of the Gospel. It's also not enough to endure. We need to progress to the end.

Those are my thoughts for now. TTFN! Vi voglio tantissimo bene.

I'm learning to Excel! - 8/23/14

Hey there. Another week come and gone!

This one's been a busy one for me. Lots of paperwork. Lots of Word documents. Lots of Excel spreadsheets (now the punny subject line makes sense). Lots of phone calls. It's crazy. I've never really spent much time in an office. It's weird. And completely different from what I've been doing for most of my mission. I'm really enjoying it though. Even though I'm not out the whole day knocking doors or talking to people in the streets, I'm still doing missionary work. It's neat to handle all the referrals. Whenever missionaries meet someone who lives outside of their area, they text the information to me and I forward it to whoever it belongs to. I sent a referral to the Canary Islands a few days ago. Who knew there was not just a branch there, but a whole stake! So it's fun to read everyone's stories and see the work moving forward in all parts of the world. I also get to learn how the mission works in ways most missionaries never even know. My newest project has been researching all the means of transportation in Lombardia and coming up with cost-effective ways to meet the missionaries' travel needs. We're going to be able to save the mission a lot more money and still travel the same. President keeps saying we need to "conserve the Lord's sacred funds and honor the widow's mite." I like it.

We have an investigator that's pretty close to baptism. He's been investigating the church for a month or two. They found his number in the phone because he met missionaries sometime last year. He likes the church and comes every week, but he's always been a little hesitant about actually becoming part of it. In our last lesson we brought a member with us. It was awesome. The member said exactly what our friend needed to hear in a way we never would've been able to. (Hey Mormons, go out with the missionaries. They need you.) Our friend set a baptismal date for two weeks from now and he's working to achieve it. He told us he smoked his last cigarette on Wednesday so hopefully he can keep that up.

In my study this morning I came across a few scriptures that I've come across in the past, but I've never been able to understand them. In the Bible (Luke 17) Jesus gives a small parable about how we as humans are unprofitable servants to God. In the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 2) King Benjamin expands on this by saying that no matter what we do or say, we will be unprofitable servants to God. "I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another— I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants."

With this comes the tempation to think, "Well, why care?" A lot of people think that way. However, we have to, as always, see things through God's eyes. He doesn't have to give us life. He doesn't have to allow us to serve Him. He doesn't have to give us free agency or eternal life, yet he offers all of these things to us. He is self-existing, yet his entire existence is directed toward our eternal life. So even though we are in a sense "unprofitable" to Him, we are also the most valuable things in His eyes. It's a bit of a paradox. The thing that is of most worth to God is YOU! So in answer to the question, "why care?" I respond, "because God cares! 

"And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keephis commandments he doth bless you and prosper you."

TTFN- Anziano Simcox